Character reader



Dec 291 1959 w. s. RoHLAND CHARACTER READER 16 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 fmm fmm

INVEN TOR.

WILLIAM S. ROHLAND @Mb/0L 'ATToRrllEY Dec, 29, 1959 w. s. RoHLAND 2,919,426

CHARACTER READER Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 16 Sheets-Sheet 2 (o.) cc) MMM UMH AU j W FIG; 23

g @u C uuuuumuuuuum j F IG- 4 INVENTOR.

WILLIAM S. ROHLAND ATTORNEY Dec. 29, 1959 v w. s. ROHLAND 2,919,426

CHARACTER READER Original Filed Dec. 24. 1954 1e sheets-sheet s Q =MVMWWMMWVWMMM p Y J 'F I G- 5 do) /l/l/VWVW/MAMMMMM L C AAAMAAAANENAAANAA 'F I G- 6 cb) /I/wwww' L YI J Y INVENToR. FIG ,7 1 WILUAM s- Rol-LAND ATTORNEY De, v29, 1959 w. s. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 16 Sheets-Sheet 4 E ZZ 8 9C..

IN VEN TOR.

WILLIAM S. ROHLAND ATTORNEY Dec. 29, W s ROHLAND 2,919,426

CHARACTER READER Original Filed Dec. 24,1954' 16 Sheets-Shea?l 5 OUTPUT WILLIAM S. ROHLAND ATTORNEY Dec. 29, 1959 Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 FIGJZQ TO RELAY COIL W. S. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER 16 Sheets-Sheet 6 FIG-...12b

qf-ODEL.

TH O

:E 'I G- l 4 b INVENTOR. wlLLxAM s. ROHLAND ATTORNEY Dem 29, 195.9 w. s. RoHLAND CHARACTER READER 16 Sheets-Sheet 7 -Original Filed Deo. 24, 1954 IN V EN TOR. WILLIAM S. ROHLAND ATTO NEY W. S. ROHLAND .CHARACTER READER Dec. 29, 1959 Origial Filed DBG. 24. 1954 16 Sheets-Sheet 8 .1 11T lll" D W z s z m M Il n .L m @mv 4% OH .@HI www NQ. W. R m do z Y \m s. m 9. V m o. m: Q J @m mw mm m a m m d M .foql z d. m wmv m9 @Q f m 2m r. .F5 L a Y. m A n .H Ooll AN@ m m@ m@ o9I r. F mm m A- U 0n oa i L Hg @i M m+ 0 m .r a o o 04 m I mov Ef do@ Y.v d 2F P E o F Q o: o vor wom /Nov LU v: m mov m: Y ,m/ X 2+ 2+ mm om mm E wm E mm r. I I l I I I l I l l l l l l l l I l I l l l l l l l l I l l I l I I l l l .Il Il I I Il l l l l I I l I l l I l l l Il I. L

ATTOR Dec. 29, 1959 w. s. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER 16 Sheets-Sheet 9 Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 1N VEN TOR.

WILLIAM S. ROHLAND ATYTOINEY W. S. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER Dec. 29, 1959 16 Sheets-Shee. 10

Original Filed Dec. 24. 1954 THESE POINTS ARE POSITIVE FOR THE FOLLOWING DEFGH SCANNING POSITIONS HORIZONTAL DIAGONAL `1 DIAGONAL. 2

VERTICAL COUNTER-DIAG. 1 v

COUNTER-DIAG-2 IDLE HOR) WILLIAM S. ROHLAND IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY Dec. 29, 1959 w. s. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER 16 Sheets-Sme?I 11 'FIG 1eb 1N VEN TOR. WILLIAM S. ROHLAND ATTORLEY +3OOV Dec. 29; 1959 w. s. Rol-:LAND

CHARACTER READER 16 'sheets-sheet 12 Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 ATTORNEY Dec, 29, 1959 w. s. Rol-:LAND 2,919,426

CHARACTER READER original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 16 sheets-sheet 1s WILLIAM S- ROHLAND ATTORNEY @om n m 0H HI .MUH .hH. f L K `om m Il. l I||.|..l.|.|.||||xi|||||.|||.l.||.|| E no m J W w09 om w mom whom 1 o R .mno F E. z i O O O O O O I O O O O mm: o @w zl o o o o ov: ..6 ..50 E Uol .o W O O O I o.. Uo|| da@ H QOII z v.. E: o o o o o o Y! o o v.. o f mwvI r new o o doo o Ef d o P o W mm1 u .I lioo oo oo oo oo w`.+ om 1| j :mnd :l wom; vom *mom \Nom www O 0 O O n do F i z @om o o o o o o o o O o o o mmm 5m amm Ai 2m W. S. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER Original Filed Dec. 24, 1954 Dec. 29, 1959 16 Sheets-Shea?. 14

INVENTOR.

WILUAM s. ROHLAND ATTORNEY 16 sheets-shea 15 INVENTUR. WILLIAM S. ROHLAND W. S. ROHLAND CHARACTER READER Dec. 29, 1959 Original Filed pee. 24. 1954 ATTO NEY De. 29, i315@ w; ROHLAND 2,919,426

CHARACTER READER Original Filed Dec. 24. 1954 16 Sheets-Sheet 16 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY WILLIAM S. ROHLAND United States CHARACTER READER William S. Rohland, Endicott, N.Y., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York- Continuation of application Serial'No. 477,569, December 24, 1954. This application March 12, 1958, Serial No. 721,064 n 16 claims. (C1. 34a- 149) liam S. Rohland, for Character Reader.

An object of the invention is to provide improved reading apparatus.

Another object of this invention is to furnish improved reading apparatus for identifying items to be read.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for scanning vitems to be identied with a plurality of different scanning patterns and providing signals which, when combined, provide an identification of the item scanned'.

Another object of the invention is to furnish improved means for readingv graphic data such as alpha-numeric characters wherein the size of the characters may vary from one to the other.

Stillanother object of the instant invention is to provide improved means for determining when an item to be scanned is in registration with the scanning station.

A further object of the invention is to furnish improved means for scanningl an item to be identified.

. Still further, an object of the present invention is to provide improved means for automatically varying the size of the scanning pattern in accordance with the size of the item to be identified.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the `accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of examples, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings: n

yFig. 1 is a block diagram of the overall system;

Figs. 2 through 7 show at (a) t-he scanning patterns generated by the horizontal plate voltages shown at (b) and the vertical plate voltages shown at Fig. 8 shows the information obtained b-y the scanning patterns of Figs. 2 through 7, when scanning charactersrof a particular type font, and the number and kindjof shape counts obtained during each of the pat- Y terns for said characters;

ventional inverter which is illustrated in `block form in Fig. 1lb;

Fig. 12a vshows the schematic circuit details of a conventional cathode follower which is shown in block form in Fig. 12b; t

. Fig. 13a shows the schematic circuit details of a delay vunit which is shown in block form in Fig. 13b;

atent 0 v ,the horizontal scan.

2,919,426 Patented Dec. .29, 1959" ventional thyratron circuit which is illustrated in block form in Fig. 14b;

Figs. 15a, 15b and 15C combine to form a block schematic diagram of the control circuits used in the present invention;

Figs. 16a and 16b combine to form a schematic diagram of the deflection circuits for producing the scanning patterns used in the invention as shown in Figs. 1 through 7;

Figs. 17a and 17b form a block schematic diagram of the shape computing circuit;

Fig. 18 is a block schematic diagram of the shape memory circuit of the invention;

Fig. 19 is a legend showing the potentials at various points of Figs. 16a and 16b during the various scanning patterns;

Fig. 20 shows a portion of the invention in block form to illustrate the association of the saw-tooth magnitude control circuit with related circuits;

Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of the saw-tooth magnitude control circuit;

Fig. 22 is a schematic diagram of the relay contact network which is controlled by the shape memory circuit shown in Fig. 18; and

Fig. 23 is `a block diagram showing the relationship of Figs. 15a, 15b and 15e.

Similar reference characters represent similar parts throughout the several views.

The basic approach used n the present invention to identify the characteristic line traces, which make up items such as letters and digits, is to scan each line trace individually with a plurality of scanning patterns. The scanning means may take the form of a conventional flying spot scanner provided with horizontal and vertical deilection plates. Volta-ges are fed to said plates to cause the spot to follow certain predeteirnined patterns. The characteristic line trace, which will hereinafter be referred to as a character, is adapted to be moved into registration with a physical aperture. Each scanning pattern is then superposed on .the aperture so that the `patterns the spot makes on' the character is only that portion of the pattern which is within the aperture.

Referring to Figs. 2 through 7, each ligure shows the different scanning patterns at (a) which are produced by the horizontal plate voltages shown at (b) and the vertical plate voltages shown at (c). General directions of movement of the spot are indicated by arrows. The illustrated general directions are by way of example only, it being understood that other directions of movement could be used to providev the scanning patterns.

Fig. 2 shows Vthe pattern which will be referred to as This scan is produced by supplying a plurality of rapid sawtooth voltages to the horizontal plates and a single slow sawtooth voltage to the vertical plates. Thus, the spot or beam of light is caused to be moved rapidly from right to left and slowly from top to bottom. It will be noted that both the rapid and slow sawtooth voltages begin at a reference potential and rise gradually to a peak positive potential, and then drop sharply to the reference potential.

Fig. 3 shows a scanning pattern hereinafter referred to as the first diagonal scan. A spot of light is caused to be moved in a path which is inclined at some predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal. In the particular pattern shown an angle of approximately 55 is used. As the arrows indicate the spot moves in a single sweep from the upper right to the lower left. Successive scans are spaced to the left of the preceding scan. To accomplish this type of sweep, the rapid sawtooth voltage shown at (b) in Fig. 3 is supplied to the horizontal deection plates, and the rapid sawtooth voltage shown at (c) in the same figure is supplied to the vertical deflection plates. It will be noted that the starting points for successive sawtooth potentials supplied to the horizontal plates are along a gradually rising reference line. It is this gradually rising reference line which causes successive sweeps to be spaced slightly to the left ot' a preceding sweep. More speciiically the rapid sawtooth voltage shown at (b) is applied to one of the deflection plates and a slower sawtooth potential, which follows the gradually rising reference line, is supplied to the other of the horizontal deiiection plates.

Fig. 4 shows a second diagonal scanning pattern, this pattern diering from the first diagonal scan only to the extent that the spot of light travels a path of greater slope. ln this pattern, an angle of 71 is used. The horizontal and vertical scanning voltages differ in that the rapid sawtooth voltage supplied to the horizontal plates during the second diagonal scan are of lesser magnitude than those supplied during the irst diagonal scan.

Fig. 5 shows at (a) the vertical scanning pattern wherein the spot travels rapidly from top to bottom and slowly from right to left. This scan is produced by supplying a single slow sawtooth voltage, shown at (b), to the horizontal plates, and a plurality of rapid sawtooth voltages, shown at (c), are fed to the vertical plates.

Fig. 6 shows at (a) the first counterdiagonal scan in which the spot travels along a path which is inclined with respect to the horizontal by the same angle as during the second diagonal scan. However, if the slope during the second diagonal scan will be referred to as positive the slope of the iirst counterdiagonal scan would be negative. According to the arrows the spot travels from the lower right towards the upper left and succeeding sweeps are spaced to the left of a preceding sweep.

Fig. 7 shows at (a) the second counterdiagonal scanning pattern. The only change necessary to go into this pattern from the preceding pattern is to increase the amplitude of the rapid sawtooth voltage supplied to the horizontal plates.

During each scanning pattern a character which is within the physical aperture is traversed by the spot of light. ln general, means are provided to count the number of substantially straight lines of different predetermined lengths, traversed by the spot during each scan. For example, as shown in Fig. 8, a treatment of the capital letters of the elite gothic type font is made. It should be borne in mind that a treatment such as this is made for perfect characters. Should there be missing portions of a character the count will be decreased during certain scan lines. However, this will not materially affect the ability of the apparatus to recognize the character since a certain tolerance is furnished. The char acters are shown at the left-hand side of Fig. 8. For each of the scanning positions, i.e., the horizontal, iirst diagonal, second diagonal, vertical, first counterdiagonal and second counterdiagonal, a number of relays are provided. These relays, numbered R1 through R36, govern a decoding network circuit in a manner which will be explained at a later point in the description.

Under each scan, the count for each character is shown. For example, during the horizontal scan three eight counts are obtained for the character B. For the present embodiment, and by way of example only, at least an eight count will be considered as a long count and anything between a tive count and an eight count will be obtained for each line of scan. However, where there is a long count, there will be at least one short count. This is due to the fact that the count must go through tive in order to reach eight.

The tirst three relays associated with each scanning pattern, i.e., relays R1, R2 and R3 for the horizontal scan, indicate one, two and three long counts, respectively. The second three relays associated with each scanning pattern, i.e., relays R4, R5 and R6 for the horizontalscan, indicate one, two and three short counts, respectively. An X indicates relays which are energized for particular characters during each scan.

Before explaining the invention in greater detail, a brief description will be given of certain conventional circuits, shown by way of example only, which may be used in the instant invention.

Fig. 9 shows a conventional multivibrator circuit which includes triodes 10 and 11 each of which is provided with the usual plate resistor connected to the positive plate source of potential. The plate of tube 10 is RC coupled to the grid of tube 11 and the plate of tube 11 is RC coupled to the grid of tube 10. The cathode of each tube is connected to ground. The parameters of the capacitors and resistors associated with each tube are such that tubes 10 and 11 conduct alternately. That is, while tube 19 begins to conduct tube 11 is going towards cutoff. When the potential is tirst applied across the tubes, variations in load resistors and tube construction causes one ofthe tubes` to begin conducting iirst. For example, if tube 10 begins conducting first the plate potential thereof decreases. Since this plate is RC coupled to the grid of tube 11, tube 11 goes toward cut-off. Thus, the plate voltage of tube 11 rises and causes tube 10 to approach saturation. When tube 11 is cut ofi, the plate thereof rises to the source potential and begins to charge the capacitor associated with tube 10. As the capacitor charges, the grid of tube 10 becomes less positive and the electron tlow in this tube begins to decrease. The moment this occurs the plate voltage of tube 10 begins to rise. This rising voltage is RC coupled to the grid of tube 11 causing the last-named tube to begin conducting. The frequency with which the tubes alternately conduct is dependent upon the time constant of the RC networks. In the present instance the output potential is taken from the plate of tube 10.

ln the schematic circuit diagram all triggers are represented by bloclis such as that shown in Fig. 10b. The

etails within each block may be identical with the circuit shown in Fig. 10a. This circuit is in the form of a pair of triodes 12 and 13 having plate resistors 14, 15 and 16, 17, respectively, said plates being connected through these resistors to a source of positive potential. In order to relate the various pick-off points in the schematic diagram of Fig. 10a to the terminals shown in the block in Fig. 10b, letters a and b indicate the plate connections of tubes 12 and 13, respectively, and letters c and d represent the points between resistors 14, 15 and 16, 17, respectively. The input pulses to the grids of tubes 12 and 13 are adapted to be supplied to terminals e and f, respectively, said pulses being supplied to the grids through capacitors 18 and current limiting resistors 19. A point between capacitor 18 and resistor 19 is connected through a resistor 20 to a negative source of potential. The plate of each tube is coupled through a parallel RC network to the afore-mentioned point associated with the opposite tube. The normal condition, whenever the trigger is considered to be 06, is when tube 13 is conducting. Therefore, the plate of tube 13 is dropped in potential from the positive source potential and has dropped the grid of tube 12, thereby keeping tube 12 cut oit. With tube 12 cut oli', the 'plate potential thereof has risen to the positive source potential, this potential being supplied to the grid of tube 13 to keep tube 13 conducting. When a negative pulse is supplied to terminals e and f tube 13 is turned oil, causing tube 12 to be turned on. This condition is referred to as the on condition. The' next negative pulse turns tube 12 ofi, causing tube 13 to be turned on, thereby returning the trigger to the oit condition.

Fig. llrz shows the schematic details of an inverter which may be used in the present invention. verter is shown in block form in Fig. 1lb. This inverter The in-` ynected by an amount proportional to the input.

comprises a triode 21, the usual plate resistors connected to a positive potential. The input to the grid from terminal g is through the usual current limiting resistor. The terminal h connects to a point between the plate resistors and the terminal i connects directly to the plate.

Fig. 12a shows the schematic details of a cathode follower circuit which is represented in block form in Fig. 12b. The circuit includes a triode 22 the plate of which is connected directly to a positive source of potential and the cathode of'whieh is connected through a resistor 23 to a negative source of potential. The input to the circuit is to terminal j, which is connected through a current limiting resistor to the grid of the triode, and the output is taken directly from the cathode and supplied to terminal k. The operation is such that the cathode output always follows the grid input. As the controlling grid begins to increase in potential, for example, the tube begins to conduct, causing the cathode to rise from the negative potential to which it is con- As the input potential to the grid decreases the cathode potential also decreases proportionally. In the present invention, where the cathode follower is fed by a trigger or an inverter, a divider input may be used.

Fig. 13a shows the schematic details of a delay circuit shown in block formin Fig. 13b. This circuit comprises a triode 24 and includes a pair of plate resistors 25 and 26 which are connected to a positive source of plate potential, the cathode being connected to ground. The input pulse is supplied to terminal q which connects through a capacitor 27 and a current limiting resistor 2S to the grid of the triode. A point between capacitor 27 and resistor 28 is connected through a resistor 29 to the afore-mentioned positive source of potential. The output potential may be taken from terminal m which is between resistors-ZS and 26 or from terminal n which connects directly to the plate. The operation of this circuit is such that the tube is normally conducting. A negative input pulse is differentiated by resistor 29 and capacitor 27, providing a negative pulse at the junction of capacitor 27 and resistor 28, which falls sharply with the leading edge of the input pulse. The afore-mentioned narrow negative pulse cuts the triode off, causing the plate potential to rise sharply. The plate potential stays up until said narrow negative pulse passes .and the potential at the junction of capacitor 27 and resistor 28 rises to a point where the tube can begin conducting again. Thus, the trailing edge of the plate output pulse occurs apredetermined time after the tube is cut off. This trailing edge may be used to perform various functions, one of such functons being to operate a trigger. The output from terminal m and n will be positive pulses of different amplitudes, i.e., the pulse from terminal m will be of higher amplitude than the pulse from terminal n.

Fig. 14a shows the details of a conventional thyratron circuit which is illustrated in block form in Fig. l4b. The thyratron includes a -tube 30 having its plate connected througha resistor to a positive source of potential and its cathode connected to a relay coil. The terminal to which the positive source of potential is supplied is indicated by reference character p, and the terminal from the cathode, which is adapted to be connected to the relay coil, is provided with a terminal x. The shield grid input isk from the terminal w and the control grid input is from the terminal z, both grid inputs being through an appropriate current limiting resistor. The operation of the thyratron is such that the tube 30 is placed in conduction only when a pulse occurs on the shield grid at the same time that a pulse occurs on the control grid. Whenthe tube goes into conduction the cathode potential rises, causing a flow of current through the relay coil so as to operate the relay.

Referring to Fig. 1, a function block diagram of the present invention is shown. The general approach of the invention is to scan the character in the patterns afore-mentioned. There are twenty-four lines of each frame of scanning. Each line is divided up into sixteen bits of sampling pulses. Thus, the scanning field is quantized into sixteen times twenty-four, or three hundred and eighty-four, bits. Not all of these bits are within the physical aperture. As a line of sweep passes over the character, a count is made of the number of bits along the outline of the character on the sweep. For example, on the character A during the horizontal scan, a small number of counts are provided when successive sweeps intersect the diagonal lines of the character. A long count is received on the sweep which intersects the crossbar.

Provision may be made for counting all bits of a character intercepted on a line of sweep. Certain criteria may be set up such that lines of sweep which contain at least eight bits may be considered long counts and lines of sweep which contain at least tive bits may be considered short counts, the arrangement being such that any time there is a long count, there is a short count. The number of short counts and long counts during certain scanning patterns may be stored in a shape memory unit and later combined to form a code for the character being scanned.

A multivibrator unit 3-1 provides a series of pulses of fundamental frequency. These pulses are fed to a l6/1 frequency divider 32 which provides an output pulse for every sixteen input pulses. These output pulses will be referred to as end of line pulses. The end of line pulses are fed to a sweep counter 33 which counts up to twentyfour and then supplies an output pulse which will be referred to as an end of frame pulse.

The deflection circuit 34 receives end of line pulses from frequency divider 32 and end of frame pulses from sweep counter 33. The end of line pulses are used to generate the rapid sawtooth potential and the end of frame pulses are used to generate the slow sawtooth potentials. The determination of the combining of these potentials is made by the scan rotation control 35. Before a character comes into registration with the scanning field the scan rotation control causes the deflection circuit to generate the idle horizontal scan. Therefore, means must be provided to determine when registration occurs. This function is accomplished by the registration unit 38.

The registration unit receives end of line pulses from frequency divider 32, end of frame pulses from sweep counter 33, and the video information from video amplifier 37. It will be seen that the output from the video amplifier will be the data obtained during the idle horizontal scan by cathode ray tube 41. Document 42 is adapted to be moved past the cathode ray tube so that the characters on the document have motion relative to the scanning device.

In the registration unit, circuits are provided lfor determining when a character to be scanned has entered the left side of the physical aperture, when the character which has just been scanned has left the right side of said aperture, and when the character to be scanned is in registration within the aperture. When registration occurs, a signal is supplied to the scan rotation control to tell it to initiate the scanning patterns. Upon initiation of the scanning patterns a signal is supplied back to the registration unit to allow end of frame pulses to pass through the registration unit to the scan rotation control. Each end of frame pulse so supplied causes a new scanning pattern to be initiated in the deflection circuits. Upon the ending of the last counterdiagonal scan a signal is fed from the scan rotation control circuit to the registration unit to block the end of frame pulses from passing through the registration unit. Thereafter, scan rotation control 3S retains the deflection circuit 34 in the idle horizontal scanning pattern until registration of a subsequent character. Simultaneously with the 7 blocking signal an end of character pulse is provided from the scan rotation control.

The shape computing circuit 39 includes an and circuit which receives the video data from video amplier 37 and the line sampling pulses from multivibrator unit 31. Every time there is coincidence between any of the sixteen sampling pulses and a video signal, a signal is furnished to a counter which can count up to fifteen. At the end of each line of scan, an end of line pulse from frequency divider 32 resets the counter for the next line of scan. Signals after each five count and each eight count are fed to the shape memory unit 4t). However, the arrangement is such in the shape computer that once a tive count or an eight count is provided, no further ive counts or eight counts will be furnished until three more lines of scan have been completed. This means that any one substantially straight portion of the character will provide only one count, even though it may be scanned more than once, An end of frame pulse from sweep counter 33 resets the shape computer in its entirety so that it is ready for the next scanning pattern.

The shape memory unit 40, as aforementioned, receives signals which indicate the number of short counts or long counts during a particular scanning pattern, This information is entered into particular portions of the shape memory as determined by the scan rotation control. Thyratrons in the shape memory set up relays of relay network 360. The end of character pulses from the scan rotation control signals that it is time to read the relay network for obtaining an identification signal to supply to the utilization device 349 for control purposes.

Figs. 15a, 15b and 15o, when combined as shown in Fig. 23, show the control circuits for the rotating scan of the present invention. A multivibrator 44 in the multivibrator unit 31 supplies a series of pulses to an inverter 45, the plate output of which is supplied to an inverter' 46. The tapped plate output of inverter 45 is connected through a line 47 to a trigger 48 in the sweep counter circuit 33. The direct plate output from inverter 46 is supplied through a line 49 to delay circuit 50. The output signal from delay circuit 50 is a slightly delayed negative pulse which is inverted in inverter 78 and fed through cathode follower 79 to terminal R. The positive pulses at terminal R occur at the frequency of the multivibrator and are the line or sampling pulses.

The tapped plate output from inverter plate 46 is supplied Vthrough line 51 to a trigger 52 in said frequency divider. The frequency divider includes triggers 52, 53, 54 and S5 which form a four position binary counter. The triggers are connected in a manner well known in the art to form such a counter. When sixteen pulses have been received by the counter, trigger 55 will be turned off sending a negative pulse from the right side thereof to trigger 56 in sweep counter circuit 33. The pulses supplied to the sweep counter represent end of line pulses. The sweep counter circuit includes triggers 56, 57, S, 59 and 60 which are arranged to form a modied form of binary counter. In the present invention it is desired to use 24 lines of scanning to each frame. Therefore, in order to get the end of frame pulse it is necessary to count 24 end of line pulses. The arrangement is such that when the first pulse is received by trigger 56 this trigger is turned on the next end of line pulse turns trigger 56 oifj and trigger 57 en When the eighth pulse has been received by trigger 56, trigger 59 has been turned on A negative pulse is supplied from the left side of trigger 59 to the delay circuit 61. After a short time delay a negative pulse is supplied from delay circuit 61 to the plate of the left side of trigger 58 turning trigger 58 on When the twelfth pulse is received by trigger S6, triggers 56, S7, 5S and 59 will be turned off When trigger 59 is turned off trigger 60 is turned on The tapped plate output from the right side of trigger 6G is positive going and is supplied to the right side of trigger 48. This, however, does not change the 8 I condition of trigger 48 since it is responsive only to negative pulses. A thirteenth pulse, and the succeeding pulses thereafter, cause the same sequence of events in the trigger circuits as was obtained during the first eleven counts. However, when the twenty-fourth pulse is received by trigger 56, trigger 6i) is turned off At this time trigger 48 is turned on Shortly thereafter thc negative pulses from inverter' 45 turn trigger 48 offf When trigger 43 turns on on the twenty-fourth pulse, as previously described, a positive pulse is supplied to cathode follower 64. The output from the cathode follower is supplied to terminal B as an end of frame pulse. The output from the cathode follower 64 is also supplied through lines 65 and 66 to inverter 67, and through lines 55 and 62; to leg 6i of and circuit 76, the other leg of said and circuit being designated by numeral 71. Inverter 67 and and circuit '7G are both in the registration unit 58, Fig. 15b.

Referring again to frequency divider 32 in Fig. 15a, it

will be remembered that a negative pulse was fed to the sweep counter circuit from trigger 55 as an end of line pulse. This occurred when trigger 55 was turned off At the same time the trigger 55 turns off a positive pulse is fed from the plate of the left side of said trigger 55 to cathode follower 72. The output of the cathode follower is a positive pulse and is fed through lines 73 and '74 to an inverter 7S. The inverter output is in the form of a negative pulse and supplied to the delay unit 76. The output of the delay unit is a narrow positive pulse which begins to go positive at the same time the input to the delay circuit begins to go negative. Thus, the function of the delay unit in this instance is similar to a differentiating amplifier and has the effect of narrowing the positive input thereto. This narrow positive pulse is supplied through cathode follower 77 to terminals S and C as an end of line pulse.

Referring to Fig. l5@ and particularly to frequency divider 32, the outputs from the plates of the left and right sides of trigger 52 are supplied to cathode followers 86 and `S1, respectively. The outputs from the plates of the left and right sides of trigger 53 are supplied to cathode followers S2 and 83, respectively. The outputs of the plates of the left and right sides of trigger 54 are supplied to cathode followers 84 and 85, respectively, and the outputs from the plates of the left and right sides of trigger S5 are supplied to cathode followers 72 and 86, respectively. It will be seen that when one of triggers 52 through 55 is oth the cathode follower connected to the plate of the right side will have a relatively low output, while the cathode follower associated with the plate of the left side will have a relatively high output. This is true since the cathode followers rellect the voltages on the plates to which they are connected. The outputs are reversed when the trigger is on Cathode followers Si), S2, 84 and 72 connect through lines S7, 823, 89 and 90, respectively, to legs 91, 92, 93 and 94, respectively, of and circuit 95, Fig. 15C. The cathode foilowers E1, 183, S5 and `86 connect through lines 96, 97, i8 and 99, respectively, to legs 160, 101, 102 and 193, respectively, of Land circuit 104. The video data from video amplifier 37 is supplied to terminal A. The indication of an interception of a portion of the character provides a positive pulse to legs and 106 in and circuits rtl4 and 9S, respectively. lt will be remembered that video pulses are of varying length being dependent upon the length of time during the sweep that they are on a portion of the character being scanned.

The registration unit utilizes the conditions of the triggers which form the counter in the frequency divider, at the counts of 15 and 16, or zero, to determine when registration occurs. The arrangement is such that a count of 15 occurs when the beam is at one end of the line of scan and a count of 16 or zero occurs when the beam is at the other end of said line. Thus, if video data is picked up at the count of Zero time, followed by 

